A special show this week! The same great XBLR without all the babbling normally done by MrCarpalTunnel…

TECH NEWS:
-Sony drops the price of the PS3.
-Blu-ray backers offer summer promo.
-Microsoft unveils Big Button Pad for casual gamers.

GAME NEWS:
-E3, E3, and more E3.
-Unreal Tournament III due in ‘07, PS3/PC exclusive ’til ‘08.
-Spielberg puzzling Wii, thrilling 360 & PS3.

GAME REVIEWS and KID PIX:

-Dirt: TOG’s going to give you the lowdown on this offroad racer. -Super Stardust HD: Steve519 got the first ps3 review covered for you guys? -Transformers: Is it as good as the movie?

All this PLUS: The Marketplace Minuteâ„¢: Is Gui J up and running again? Useless Tipsâ„¢, Console Crimesâ„¢ ; all this and The “360FriendSpot Spot” featuring Squidpunch.

Direct Download ver 48.0,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).

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Imagine life without carpaltunnel…

People are talking and jumping up and down, thats right rumor has it that there is a 4th XBOX 360 (code name Falcon) price of the elite to drop to $350 smack a rues. Watch out and make sure you are wearing your hard hat cause prices are dropping from the sky left and right. Just yesterday the PS3 price drop hit my dog in the head. Check back for more on E3.

Me and my wife ventured out to the movies today and she made me sit through 1408 based on a story by Stephen King. I am not one for scary movies, but I must say this movie put chill bumps on my skin that stayed there until the credits started rolling. No gore porn here the director (Mikael Hafstrom ) put together a great suspenseful movie with out nudity, blood and guts (some blood but not to much) and crude language. The movie did not need it to survive. John Cusack (Michael Enslin’s in the movie) played his part to the hip, I don’t think anyone else could have masted the role as well as he did. All of the other parts in this movie were small by nature compared to John Cusack role. Samuel L Jackson’s was in the movie for all about 15min. I think. If you want to stay on the edge off your seat you must go see this movie at the theater. They did a outstanding job using the surround sound in this movie. Only one word of advice make sure you stay away from the trailer cause it will spoil on off the plot twist in this movie. That was a bummer. This is a 5 out of 5 for me. I can see myself going back to the theater for this one.

TOG out!

We’ve all heard of starving arts. Well what about starving game developers? It looks like that may be the new phrase in the UK. The French already have a tax credit of 20% off the total cost up to $3.91 million a year for a game with a cultural value. It looks like there are more to come in the UK.

My question, is this a good thing? Could we see games change over time, if the government is able to get their hand in on the action? Who knows we may even see a game where the French save London.

You can find the article at Businessweek.

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I haven’t even unlocked all the songs on G.H II (which has only been out for a week) and now I can go wild with my MS points?

Thats right! For just 500 points you don’t even get a “reach Around” by the Marketplace. Red Octane has already put out three packs of songs for you to buy at 500 MS Points Each.

($6.25 or about $2.00 a song)
*pack 1 = Bark at the Moon, Hey You, Ace of Spades.
*pack 2 = Killer Queen,Take it off, Frankenstein
*pack 3 = Higher Ground, Infected, Stellar

From what I hear, the upcoming SinStar for the PS3 game will allow you to buy the songs individually. No word if you will be able to transfer the $2.00+ songs to your mp3 player.

All three packs would make the game come to a ballpark: $115.00 (If you are like most and paid for the Guitar and Game this past week). That’s more than a real Guitar purchase or a nice down-payment on the Limeted Edition of Halo 3. Plus, we aren’t finished yet! Keep in mind this is only week one.  So tell your mom that she will have to either up the allownce or you have to pick between guitar lessons or GHII. Either way it still won’t up your chances of scorin’ in the real World!

EMI Group will soon sell digital music with better sound quality and no digital rights management restrictions through Apple’s iTunes Store.
EMI’s entire digital music catalog will be available in premium DRM-free form via iTunes in May, the music label said Monday at a press conference in London.
Higher-quality music files, which will play on any computer and any digital-audio player, will not replace the copy-protected EMI music currently sold through iTunes. Rather, they will complement the standard 99-cent iTunes downloads and will be sold at a premium: $1.29 per song.

Consumers who have already purchased EMI tracks containing Apple’s FairPlay copy protection will be able to upgrade them to the premium version for 30 cents, EMI said. Full albums in DRM-free form can be bought at the same price as standard iTunes albums.

“We are committed to embracing change, and to developing products and services that consumers really want to buy,” said Eric Nicoli, chief executive of EMI. Nicoli cited internal EMI tests in which higher-quality, DRM-free songs outsold its lower-quality, copy-protected counterparts 10-to-1.
(more…)

You may not have heard of the PSX, put out by Sony but in 2003 they put out their Sony media center, digital video recorder, and DVD player, and PlayStation 2 video game console. It was released in Japan on 12-13-2003 but ended there due to poor sales. It came with a 160 or a 250 GB hard drive to record TV, home movies, digital photos, or to play PS 2 titles. You were also able to link the PSX to your psp to transfer videos and music. Rumor has it that if you do have this system that it will link up with the PS3. The system is also know as the Sony Cross Media Bar (XMB).

Def Jam ICON at a glance…

The Good

• Easy to learn how to fight
• Managing your crew and girls is fun
• Playing your own music in this game is what its all about
• Good Story line
• Graphics are OK

The Bad

• Achievement points are to far apart
• It gets to a point where you are fighting the same person over and over
• Not enough fighting moves
• No replay value

The Ugly

• Easy to cheat
• Stereotyping

In my opinion this game would be a rental not a buy.
If you wan’t the full review you can download XBL Radio ver. 40

Thats right if you live in Mexico and you want to play GRAW 2 you might have a hard time finding this game.

According to Juarez newspaper the governor of the Mexican state of Chihuahua has ordered the seizure of all copies of the latest version of GRAW (Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2).

Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza Terraces decided to take action after he caught word of what Juarez Mayor Héctor Murguía Lardizábal had to say about the game. Calling it “a crime against the intellectual capacity of Juarez residents”. This is not the first time Tom Clancy has pitted his crew against the Mexican in the last GRAW the ghost were fighting against our brothers from the south of the boarder. I am surprise it took so long for the !@#% to hit the fan with this game, considering that one of the biggest political topic of today is the border as well illegal immigrants here in the United States. While I know this is just a game (a good game at that) I am able to see where some people would have a problem with this game. I mean what have our brothers form the south of the border done to us? What do you think?

Recreated and enhanced for Xbox 360™, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is better than before with enhanced graphics, new achievements, and Xbox Live® leaderboards. Years ago, Richter Belmont faced the nightmare creature Dracula in what was supposed to be the final showdown to rid the world of his evil. Instead, Dracula’s castle has once again risen from the mists to threaten the safety of the world. Alucard, a mysterious figure with his own motivations, has taken it upon himself to enter the new castle, confront the evil, and attempt to destroy Dracula once and for all. With swords and magic, he must face hordes of undead demons who will attempt to stop him from harming their master. Unknown allies also await Alucard to help him in his journey. Can Alucard uncover the full truth behind the source of Dracula’s power?

My question to you is does the fact that this game is about 95.5 mb make it a better game, or is this just a retro game that should have a wooden stake put through it?